Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1996 - 26

FIGURE
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Zbo!'ilova's A Tale Pulled {!'Om a Hat.
Canvas painted scenery with a difference.
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Zbo!'ilova's Princess Turandol. The colored dl'apes and forms
contrasted effectively with the malevolence of the action.
for her repeated use of fabrics, is a certain minimalism in the
search for imaginative theatre: "1 prefer striving for magic but
with the simplest means." 18 It is a remark close to but not synonymous with Roszkopfova's "I tlY by minimal means to create
a 'slice from life. ,.. 19 Beyond Zborilova's selective use
of authentic objects in conjunction with drapes is a pull
toward fantasy; beyond Roszkopfova's often metaphoric, nearexpressionistic grouping of deconstructed, material elements
is a pull toward realism and relevance.
Perhaps one of the purest examples of a lana Zborilova
set composed of cloth was Goldoni's Tbe Boors (Cheb, 1984)
[Fig. 8]. Taking a cue from the fact that the play involves a
laundtY, she chose not solid structures, let alone flats, to define the acting space, but sheets strung on lines; the sheets
were progressively removed as the action proceeded. Acnlally
more typical of her work was an earlier production of a Bulgarian play, Before I was Born and Tbereafter (Brno, 1977)
[Fig. 9] by the experimental Theatre on a String, which preferred playing on open stages or even in complete arena form,
as in this production. Here she suspended a canvas "sky," with
graphics of birds on it as well as papier-mache birds hanging
FIGURE
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Zboi'ilova's CrpS.l' Tales.
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from it above a sandbox-like acting space in and around
which the village and domestic action took place. The canvas
was whimsically penetrated by a stove pipe in some scenes and
altogether served a number of hmctions; it also came into direct play with the actors, such as when it was lowered, inverted, and the curious hemispheric sections served as skirts
for the women, or when some lines suspended from it helped
to create a carousel-type ganle. The production brought to
mind her observation that "the strongest metaphor is born if it
originates from a synthesis of the simplest elements." 10
Zborilova's use of a single, huge canvas to form the background and to enclose the stage environment of Chekhov's
Ivanov (Prague, 1988) was illustrated in Delbert Unruh's TDR
article (XXVI, 4, Fall 1990). That particular canvas was manipulated to change its shape during the course of the production. In two other productions, she also used large-scale
pieces of canvas to enclose the action, but their essence was
less in their movement or change of form than in their method
of support and their surface treatment by graphics and color.
For V. Vacke's A Tale Pulled from a Hat (Cheb, 1989) [Fig.
10] she created a tent by the seashore by lightly painting the
sky, sea, and sand on the interior of the tent, with soft bags under the canvas floor to complete the effect of the sand. Astovepipe again penetrated the top of the tent. A more complex
environment of structurally draped, painted cloths occurred
in Princess Turandot, by the contemporary Czech Daniela
Fischerova (Cheb, 1988) [Fig. II], a darkly satiric version of
Gozzi's commedia play. The colorhilly painted cloth walls were
extensions of the floor. Bamboo poles formed the vertical supports for walls and for a large but delicate baldachin, which
could hmction as sky, ceiling, or high mountains, largely depending on how it was lit. Similarly the bamboo poles could be
used as weapons. Bright red cloths punctuated the basic greywhite scale of the abstract patterns painted on the large sections of cloth. The red cloths were sometimes used as
banners, or to cover the pillows hanging from the bamboo
poles, or even as parts of Turandot's costllme. Once again,
multi-hmctionaLity was a hallmark aspect of Zborilova's sce-